Our stay at the Birdsong Backpackers in Hokitika was very pleasant. It's run by a lovely English couple who have made it homely and artistic. We were made to feel at home and the view of the waves on the wild west coast was fantastic. In the morning, we went to town to have a look at some pounamu jewellery but it was way above my budget, so I didn't buy anything. I wanted a fern leaf motif pendant or earrings but it was not meant to be... We headed up north in t...

We left Franz Josef town and backtracked south towards Fox Glacier and Lake Matheson as there were finally some blue skies and we'd heard that the walk around the lake is one of the best in the west. Boy, are we glad we did the detour - it was one of the most amazing walks I have been on (apart from the Camino in Spain)! The road to Lake Matheson runs through dairy country - it's a flat plain with plenty of cows grazing. Then, once you get out the car and head o...

Today we saw the West Coast of the South Island - for the first time - in all it's wild wonder. After a night of relentless rain in Haast, the sun broke briefly through the clouds in the morning. The owner of the hostel had told us that the rain on the wet west coast falls mainly in the evenings. We gave a lift to a young couple who had no other means of transport. I felt it was my duty, as a former hitchhiker, to return the favour and also, as we were heading...

We left Arrowtown and embarked on a full day of driving. We stopped at a couple of places en route: including a wine cellar, cheese shop and the cutest little farmstall where we tried Feijoa fruit for the first time. Feijoas are small, elongated fruit the colour of limes - they taste like a mix between guavas, apples and melons with a slight lime tang and have a wonderful, fresh fragrance. We stopped for an al fresco lunch by the lake at the ski town of Wanaka...

We drove from Arrowtown to Te Anau and stayed the night at Rosie's Backpackers as we wanted to get an early start. Te Anau is the gateway to the world famous Milford Sound - a magnificent fjord in the Kiwi Southlands - which is one of the highlights of the region and we wanted to avoid the bus loads of day trippers. We set off from Te Anau at 8am along one of the most jaw droppingly amazing drives I have ever been on. Every corner opened out onto the most stunni...